PRECISE aims at identification of such biomarkers and stratifiers and proposes to acquire liquid and solid biopsies from patients suffering from chronic inflammatory disease, with a focus on those treated with immunotherapy. This material will be part of multiple independently ongoing clinical studies carried out in various Swiss clinical institutions, namely university hospitals in Zürich, Basel, Bern and Lausanne. High-dimensional single cell cytometry combined with computer-aided analysis will be used to identify cell type signatures, i.e. possibly rare, disease relevant cell subpopulations as reliable biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets. Further, identified signature cell types will be subjected to proteomic mass spectrometric analysis and epigenetic screening to provide an in depth view of the biochemical state of disease-relevant cell types. Upon validation in independent patient cohorts, this information will then be used to stratify patients prior to immunotherapy to maximize the therapeutic impact and to minimize adverse effects as well as to provide new personalized therapeutic targets for immune intervention across the Swiss wide patient population.
